The battle for a municipal utility is fought on Boulder TV and YouTube

The battle over whether or not the City of Boulder moves ahead with creating its own municipal utility is being fought out on local TV screens — and Youtube.

The November ballot has two competing measures that will be a key in deciding the future of the cityâ€™s plans to replace the investor-owned Xcel Energy with a municipal electric power company.

And thanks to inexpensive local cable advertising rates â€“ Boulder voters can watch the municipal utility battle on there TV screens.

One group — Voter Approval of Debt Limits â€“ has placed a measure on the ballot, Question 310, that requires voter approval of a municipal utilityâ€™s debt limit and the cost if debt repayment.

The groupâ€™s contention is that the cost of taking over Xcelâ€™s operations to create a municipal utility is such an unknown â€“ the city has bracketed the cost at $124 million to a worst-case $405 million â€“ that Boulder residents face an undue financial risk.

â€śWe just believe there ought to be voter oversight,â€ť said Kathy Atkinson, a spokeswoman for the group. The group has received $300,000 in support from Xcel.

Hereâ€™s their ad:

Boulder officials say that the debt limit ballot initiative is a poison pill that would cripple efforts to form a municipal utility. In response the city council put its own measure on the ballot that would limit the â€śone completeâ€ť payment for purchasing Xcelâ€™s infrastructure to $214 million.

The measure, however, isnâ€™t that clean. It doesnâ€™t cover further start-up costs and leaves the option of not including any so-called stranded costs â€“ lost investment revenue â€“ awarded to Xcel if they are paid out of rates rather than bonds.

The measure further states that there would be no limitation on the new utilityâ€™s ability to issue bonds and that if it passes it will supersede the competing ballot initiative.

Meanwhile a number of grass-roots groups in the city are opposing Question 310. Hereâ€™s an ad from New Era Foundation, a group aiming to mobilize young voters:

The battle over the ballot measure is bound to grow intense. In 2011, when Boulder first put the idea to voters of investigation a municipal utility Xcel worked hard with both tactics and cash in an unsuccessful effort to defeat the measure â€“ eventually spending $961,000.

David joined The Denver Post in 1999, his second go-round in the Mile High City. Since then heâ€™s covered a variety of topics â€“ from human services to consumer affairs â€“ most always with an investigative bent. Currently he does investigations and banking.